Hail is most frequent in the south-west, where it is reported on about 20 days a year, but for the greater part of the country it occurs on about five days a year or less. Most of the hailstones are small, but occasionally large stones cause local damage to glasshouses and to orchards and market gardens, chiefly in Canterbury and Hawke's Bay.
Co-creator
Neil George Robertson, M.SC., Assistant Director (Climatology), Meteorological Service, Department of Civil Aviation, Wellington.